tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6578299777009796562024-03-13T17:44:02.786-04:00Christian K. AndersonEmollit mores nec sinit esse feros.Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-32166903839712636882021-12-31T15:33:00.004-05:002021-12-31T15:57:14.510-05:00(Casi) Un año con Quijote<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When I was in high school I thought it would be great to try to read Don Quijote in español. I loved learning the language, by practicing with native speakers but also by reading stories and novels, and thought this would be a fun adventure. I bought a used copy and set out on my quest. I think I made it about 60 pages. Although I was pretty good in Spanish, I wasn't quite reading for the language of Cervantes. I spent too much time consulting the dictionary, usually discovering that I knew the word, just not his 16th-century word. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihaEhlRU1qQFVLtoHcmcprhgwzK5OZ6pYNL_T3XJxgwnqhRyUBFvIPO6SdZY77QJBQYWucQhtThITQVuruy9oBTZwl11e6iK7XHBNCxwwM_hoMrUH4e4xW37eNGKIXsiQqb9im7aTajfzDYkvkQLTHq94P4-_xEbaWOeFQCRWMjcFO31xuPGC6np-H=s3645" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2731" data-original-width="3645" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihaEhlRU1qQFVLtoHcmcprhgwzK5OZ6pYNL_T3XJxgwnqhRyUBFvIPO6SdZY77QJBQYWucQhtThITQVuruy9oBTZwl11e6iK7XHBNCxwwM_hoMrUH4e4xW37eNGKIXsiQqb9im7aTajfzDYkvkQLTHq94P4-_xEbaWOeFQCRWMjcFO31xuPGC6np-H=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">As a Spanish major at the University of Utah I did not take a Quijote class because the professor who taught it was chair of the department at the time and not teaching an undergraduate version of the class. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">In 2014 I decided I would finally take advantage of my benefit as an employee at the University of South Carolina to take a class and enrolled in Spanish 722: Cervantes, which was primarily focused on his masterpiece. It was a busy semester with a study abroad trip to Ireland to plan and carry out (and additional travel to Scotland and England afterward), kids' events to attend, and all the rest so those were my excuses for not reading Quijote cover-to-cover. (I was auditing the class so there was no pressure.) I still did a presentation at the end of the semester: on Quijote on film. I got a taste of the Quijote universe, was intrigued by it, but did not do a full immersion into the genius and madness of the hidalgo from La Mancha.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyi-ODpPH-QRtXigQPDocKuyN9rWSx2RZVtUoIa1WaWdqwZKVfs8ESJU5WJUrgIgTKRYxRafRZHihVziXBcmNZ2_lyA8NteDNrh4HJWW7dwf8y848SbPJYTRo9S2u6e6Do60KeFyVnmLCYLmHDZSvM_izUloJL1WFVytgV_5g8-Xtfr_SVSlWu1jl5=s1914" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1270" data-original-width="1914" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyi-ODpPH-QRtXigQPDocKuyN9rWSx2RZVtUoIa1WaWdqwZKVfs8ESJU5WJUrgIgTKRYxRafRZHihVziXBcmNZ2_lyA8NteDNrh4HJWW7dwf8y848SbPJYTRo9S2u6e6Do60KeFyVnmLCYLmHDZSvM_izUloJL1WFVytgV_5g8-Xtfr_SVSlWu1jl5=w400-h265" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fast forward to 2021. I don't know what inspired me to want to finally read Don Quijote cover-to-cover, but in May as the semester was ending and the summer was approaching, I decided this would be my epic summer read. I looked at the number of chapters in Part I (published in 1605) and II (published a decade later) and saw that it was going to take more than just the summer. I decided I would read a chapter a day – first in English and then in Spanish. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Meine Frau, </span><a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/dllc/our_people/mueller_agnes.php" style="font-family: georgia;" target="_blank">Agnes Mueller</a><span style="font-family: georgia;">, joined me in the march through La Mancha. I wondered if I'd maintain the pace of a chapter a day (pues, en realidad, dos capítulos – primero en inglés y después en español), but happily I (we!) did. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzxOCnJdfauRwh-AYSGVqucxLqyYQs-saCKdJM0TjukS-UAwQYoa_lp7o7e7-XHjBBuLVg6syzkh-JemlRmtISQFwdX_XPWRDNdHxny0RJTmcvN2vk8lIlTd1rnaBXrh7_OAiCA0TZgBmxwXC7oTAoOuKOGxI6xEAsr5UTVDsiSournEdGiRCAdObA=s1894" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1419" data-original-width="1894" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzxOCnJdfauRwh-AYSGVqucxLqyYQs-saCKdJM0TjukS-UAwQYoa_lp7o7e7-XHjBBuLVg6syzkh-JemlRmtISQFwdX_XPWRDNdHxny0RJTmcvN2vk8lIlTd1rnaBXrh7_OAiCA0TZgBmxwXC7oTAoOuKOGxI6xEAsr5UTVDsiSournEdGiRCAdObA=w400-h300" width="400" /></span></a></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We finished on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1455600797/posts/10224652125717982/?d=n" target="_blank">September 29th</a>, Cervantes's 474th birthday. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">By the end, I was hooked. I had been taking notes each day (including tackling the vocabulary) and becoming more and more fascinated with the novel and with Miguel de Cervantes. After I was done with the novel I kept reading; I picked up graphic novel adaptations and books about Quijote.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhi_lhWz-UQKvXCdMOMFd90ZqojRxRzMdZ48WqHbQxZqVmTZz28ElGVkXaLddeBg0B6XKjMOqmbD9DsynFoENHLViw6elhXX8B3mMKle5kmNu2_T9esryTNNO1Cfv8WZVj5g5A_J5x8xcFKSTsTnA0YTCOL-B12Lyncf4vawKdhSnKG_a419mw_i0nf=s3707" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3707" data-original-width="2782" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhi_lhWz-UQKvXCdMOMFd90ZqojRxRzMdZ48WqHbQxZqVmTZz28ElGVkXaLddeBg0B6XKjMOqmbD9DsynFoENHLViw6elhXX8B3mMKle5kmNu2_T9esryTNNO1Cfv8WZVj5g5A_J5x8xcFKSTsTnA0YTCOL-B12Lyncf4vawKdhSnKG_a419mw_i0nf=w300-h400" width="300" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">When we visited <a href="https://www.brookgreen.org" target="_blank">Brookgreen Gardens</a> in October, the first stop we made was to see Anna Hyatt Huntington's "Don Quixote." </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhCo6dAumzIWwfpbwrjDXozrtOX7WS0Xk1OL3cwfZDf4K2ukvlofO7mBXdAJ-ccbaPBB8hgoOkOcm72bNbqsK-ksbdmG9kkhgkGvGU-T7UVSsnUEgHHe68OkWL0vKgDT50blalBw6mVJHd2KP13ifS5ZlStABVo9MsqsvAbCL00Y-vFQHWPSL5CkDZ_=s2305" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1537" data-original-width="2305" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhCo6dAumzIWwfpbwrjDXozrtOX7WS0Xk1OL3cwfZDf4K2ukvlofO7mBXdAJ-ccbaPBB8hgoOkOcm72bNbqsK-ksbdmG9kkhgkGvGU-T7UVSsnUEgHHe68OkWL0vKgDT50blalBw6mVJHd2KP13ifS5ZlStABVo9MsqsvAbCL00Y-vFQHWPSL5CkDZ_=w400-h266" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>And, of course, I started seeing Quijote all over the place, some references I certainly would have understood without having read the whole novel but others are less obvious. There's a reason the book in consistently ranked as one of the most important novels – Quijote is everywhere. </span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img alt="Image may contain Advertisement Poster Motor Machine Engine Animal Mammal and Horse" class="ResponsiveImageContainer-dlOMGF byslZC responsive-image__image" height="400" src="https://media.newyorker.com/photos/61858fd41f2bd18f8c283884/master/w_2560%2Cc_limit/cover-STORYimage-drooker-climate.jpg" width="295" /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">And for my birthday I got some Quijote Gear.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEib7EmXTZsGdSHe2FnInaTm0f-4Ile5GQZ9y1WD55WOt9lA0l3keXllIRwAWxS5K0x4NQUWoSNrCJk3Pyroab_rxzjlCiDsxI-dwKCNj8TvD3Bg2DMJ-3TRqgoYvcEw2Cj3C1B11FErhv371wmhLIv0bzKH76U7p6vXtnOCarASDi3PYLrHidbjRCm0=s2764" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2764" data-original-width="2764" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEib7EmXTZsGdSHe2FnInaTm0f-4Ile5GQZ9y1WD55WOt9lA0l3keXllIRwAWxS5K0x4NQUWoSNrCJk3Pyroab_rxzjlCiDsxI-dwKCNj8TvD3Bg2DMJ-3TRqgoYvcEw2Cj3C1B11FErhv371wmhLIv0bzKH76U7p6vXtnOCarASDi3PYLrHidbjRCm0=w400-h400" width="400" /></span></a></div><p></p><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Needless to say, I'm slightly obsessed. I have so much more to say about our caballero andante, don Quijote, but mostly wanted to make this post as a note to myself, as a reminder of my journey with him through (most) of this past year. He was a good friend to have along. Hopefully, I won't become quite as obsessive and crazy as Alonso Quixano but then again, it's not bad to have a little Quixote in us.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">So, as we bid an adiós to 2021, let's let Inti Illimani have the final word...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4T_9X6FYAQY" width="320" youtube-src-id="4T_9X6FYAQY"></iframe></div><br /></div></span></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-80190599807992459922020-11-02T20:30:00.007-05:002022-10-26T10:32:25.103-04:00 This List Goes to 11: Christian’s Top Political Movies<p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: large;">Are you looking for something to watch on Election Night to keep you distracted from the wall-to-wall election coverage on the networks? Behold, a few ideas from your friendly neighborhood movie fan... </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7IEbYFVREcU/X6CznNnKaKI/AAAAAAAABLw/i9IoSYo6fuc7-RAqW1Tdt94NeeljrgxsQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1024/Bulworth1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7IEbYFVREcU/X6CznNnKaKI/AAAAAAAABLw/i9IoSYo6fuc7-RAqW1Tdt94NeeljrgxsQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Bulworth1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><u style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">Christian's Top Political Movies</u><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">:</span></p><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">1. Bulworth<br />2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb<br />3. Good Night, and Good Luck<br />4. Selma<br />5. The Great Dictator<br />6. The Candidate<br />7. Dave<br />8. Thank You for Smoking<br />9. Wag the Dog<br />10. Vice<br />11. A Face in the Crowd</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;"><br /><u>Honorable Mentions</u>: <br />• Citizen Kane</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">• Quiz Show</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">• Being There<br />• Lincoln</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">• Malcolm X </div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">• Milk</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">• The Wall</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">• Saboteur<br />• The Ides of March<br />• Election<br />• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington<br />• The Manchurian Candidate <br />• The American President<br />• Thirteen Days</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">• Nashville<br />• Charlie Wilson’s War</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">• The Nixon Adventure Pack: Nixon / Elvis Meets Nixon / All the President’s Men / Frost/Nixon <br />• The Adventure Combo Pack: In the Line of Fire / Absolute Power / Air Force One / Enemy of the State<br />• The Documentary Adventure Pack: The War Room / Boogie Man / The Fog of War<br />• The TV Pack: VEEP / The West Wing / House of Cards / Spin City / The Americans<br /><br /></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;"><u>Disclaimers</u>: <br />• This list is subject to change.<br />• Bulworth is the best political movie ever and I watch it every election night instead of watching early returns. As for the rest of the list, see the point above. <br />• It only includes only movies I’ve seen. <br />• Some movies in the Honorable Mention category may actually be better overall than those in the Top Movies list but the criteria here is how they deal with politics. <br />• All the President’s Men probably belongs near the top of the Top Movies list but I liked the idea of a Nixon Adventure Pack of movies and it fits there and it’s my list. So there. <br />• See also: Boogie Man, but I liked it in the Documentary Adventure Pack. Again: So there.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">Where are these movies available? Try <a href="https://www.justwatch.com" target="_blank">JustWatch</a> for streaming possibilities and your <a href="https://www.richlandlibrary.com" target="_blank">local library</a> for DVD/Blu-ray copies.</div><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;"><br /></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-90047734608022484702020-06-24T09:32:00.002-04:002020-06-24T09:46:48.614-04:00Who should wear a mask? <div><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px;"><b>Who should wear a mask? </b></span></div><div>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re sick, you should wear a mask. Don’t get anyone else sick. </p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re well, you should wear a mask. You don’t want to get sick.</p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re old, wear a mask since you’re at higher risk.</p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re young, wear a mask because you might be carrying the virus and could unknowingly pass it on.</p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re a Democrat, wear a mask because you want to be a good citizen.</p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re a Republican, wear a mask so that the Deep State can’t identify and track you.</p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re a Libertarian, wear a mask so you can live another day to fight the oppressive government!</p>
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<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you want football in the fall, wear a mask. </p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you want to travel again, wear a mask. </p><p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you don't want to be stuck homeschooling again in the fall, wear a mask. And make sure your kids wear one, too.</p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re the Dread Pirate Roberts, wear a mask because they’re terribly comfortable and you think everyone will be wearing them in the future.</p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re Zorro or the Lone Ranger, keep wearing your handsome mask, but please add the rest of the ensemble to cover your mouth and nose.</p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re Erwin Schrödinger, wear a mask because you’re still not certain if the virus exits or doesn’t exist. </p>
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<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re Blaise Pascal, wear a mask as a wager that if the virus exists you’re doing the right thing but even if it doesn’t, no harm done – it was just a mask.</p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’ve ever read a novel about an epidemic or pandemic wear a mask because you don’t want to turn fiction into reality. And if you don’t, Albert Camus’s ghost will haunt you until you do. Or Stephen King will come staple one to your face. I’m not sure which would be scarier.</p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 23px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’ve ever watched Contagion, Outbreak, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or any other movie involving a contagious disease, wear a mask – and if you haven’t, watch one, and then put on a mask.</p>
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<p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you love your neighbor, wear a mask.</p></div><div><br /></div><p style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 19px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Darth Vader wore a mask. He knew that if he didn’t, he’d die – and that's just what happened when he took it off! So, be cool. Be like Darth Vader. Wear a mask.</p><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k96k5P3I9GE/XvNTprHmRWI/AAAAAAAABCE/2NEz8cAOAqYwhkS1qzW7qmV9g0JgmRIjwCK4BGAsYHg/s2064/IMG_7109.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2064" data-original-width="2064" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k96k5P3I9GE/XvNTprHmRWI/AAAAAAAABCE/2NEz8cAOAqYwhkS1qzW7qmV9g0JgmRIjwCK4BGAsYHg/s320/IMG_7109.jpg" /></a></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-3055243428301396482020-03-20T09:18:00.000-04:002020-03-20T09:18:28.384-04:00Welcome to SHOES 2020!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bcMs_kFNw0c/XnOKq8ilinI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/QgrgawxhMwEUdOlX9e-y0wXHOTrek7cXQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/SHOES%2BBANNER.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="1525" height="124" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bcMs_kFNw0c/XnOKq8ilinI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/QgrgawxhMwEUdOlX9e-y0wXHOTrek7cXQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/SHOES%2BBANNER.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Historic images of the University of South Carolina & Benedict College</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Welcome to the 2020 conference of the Southern History of Education Society and welcome to Columbia, South Carolina! Here at the University of South Carolina we are excited to host this year's conference along with Benedict College.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's what Jon Hale and I would be saying about right now if a certain virus hadn't invaded the <strike>country</strike> world. And Meeghan Kane would be giving similar welcome remarks tomorrow morning at Benedict College. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Going online...</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since we can't gather in person we are doing something <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/southern-history-of-education/shoes-2020" target="_blank">online</a>. We held out hope that we'd be able to still host the conference until we received the <a href="https://sc.edu/safety/coronavirus/" target="_blank">update</a> from the University that all campus events would be cancelled. Benedict had not made a similar determination at that point but it would not have been possible to move the Friday events there with that little notice, and since that time it has also closed. The <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/southern-history-of-education/current-conference" target="_blank">plan for SHOES 2020</a> was to hold Friday's events at UofSC and Saturday's at Benedict. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This online format may be a poor substitute for the real deal, but we hope participants will still gain some benefit from it. And we didn't want the effort put into the conference to be for naught. We invited presenters to submit whatever they wanted to for their presentation — an abstract, the full paper, a slide presentation. It was completely voluntary. These files are linked to the title of the presentations in the <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/southern-history-of-education/shoes-2020" target="_blank">online version of the schedule</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By the way, some presenters may ask, "Should I still include this presentation on my C.V.?" Yes, of course! You submitted a proposal, had it accepted, and prepared to present it. So you should absolutely include it — the <a href="https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/canceled-conferences" target="_blank">APA</a> and <a href="https://style.mla.org/category/ask-the-mla/" target="_blank">MLA</a> even have guidelines on how to list a conference where the conference was cancel or the format was modified.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A (Very) Brief History of SHOES</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Southern History of Education Society (SHOES) is an unusual "association" — it has no membership dues, no official roster, no officers, and requires no registration fee to attend. Calling it a "society" may be a misnomer given its semi-anarchic organization and yet this conference attracts both top scholars and novice researchers every year. If you read the <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/x0ivz-ghM08XaW3pR6mT2C1iy8wojKABMDVlUPbW9xIKnVckLhj73AwsykYx51Om8UDNTUlf5U1VrqrNw1JSvs-DN-mozzINED4ELt3_ulwW8QqmRA=w1280" target="_blank">letter sent out to organize</a> the first gathering in 1970 you can see that informality from its very inception. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">SHOES held its first conference at Georgia State University in Atlanta in 1970. Until 1980 it was held in the fall, that year it was skipped and it was held in the spring thereafter. The conference has since been held at a different college or university each spring, usually mid-March, for two days (a Friday and Saturday). It has a tradition of charging no registration fees, instead relying on the host institution to sponsor the event. The conference is open to all </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">—</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, independent scholars, and others </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">—</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> who are interested in the history of education in the South and beyond. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Wayne Urban gave a paper, "<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NteeS0BG7ww87s6xJE7JEZ5W3TwIuojo" target="_blank">The Southern History of Education Society (SHOES), 1970-1995: A Personal History</a>," in 1995 that gave a history of its first 25 years and in it he explains that this friendly atmosphere was a hallmark of the "</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">society"</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and yet this should not be mistaken for a lack of seriousness in scholarship. SHOES has a way of welcoming new scholars to the field <i>and</i> giving a venue for senior scholars to present their work</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. It's an unusual operation, but somehow it works. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A Few Thoughts on Academic Conferences </span></h4>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At a time like this it's worth taking a moment to ask why such academic gatherings matter. A <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/learning-innovation/conferences-and-covid-19" target="_blank">recent essay</a> on Inside Higher Ed sums up nicely what we miss when conferences are cancelled: Dedicated Time, Physical Separation, Critical Mass, Opportunities for Professional Advancement, and Informal Networking. For me, all of them are important, but the key is in the first two: Dedicated Time and Physical Separation. And those two factors make possible the latter three. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While I think it's good that we are doing <i>something </i>online and providing a venue to share presentations, I know it will not be the same. It will be too easy to just glance over a paper while you multitask between trying to adjust to teaching online and attending to family matters and whatever else. That physical separation and dedicated time allows for you to set aside (not that we don't still carry some of our concerns with us to conferences via our laptops and phones) and concentrate on the work of your field. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Maybe missing the in-person SHOES conference this year will make us enjoy it all the more next year. How do you replace or replicate the informal conversation over coffee between sessions or being introduced to a new colleague at a reception? While some worry that this pandemic will cause some to fully embrace online education, I think it will make us even more keenly aware of its limitations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Several Words of Thanks</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The business meeting held at the end of SHOES each year has a packed agenda: Who wants to host next year? Once someone raises their hand and volunteers, the meeting is over! Then it's up to host to figure out how to put it on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The organizing committee, such as it was, included me, Jon Hale (UofSC), Meeghan Kane (Benedict College), and Ramon Jackson (S.C. Department of Archives), and many others volunteered their talents to bring this together: Anna Westbury (catering arrangements), Briahnna Ismail (designer the wonderful program), Rachael Nicholos (helped with the program), Collin Perryman (registration), </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Erin York (local arrangements), Amanda Lucas (publicity), and Emily Davis (finances). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Additionally, for lunchtime activities on Friday, Elizabeth West offered to do a tour of the Historic Horseshoe, Katherine Chaddock to give a tour of the Richard T. Greener statue, and Jennifer Gunter a tour of the exhibition of "A Woman's Right," which details the history of women at UofSC. Toby Jenkins, director of the Museum of Education, offered that space for the reception on Friday evening. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For activities at the end of the conference on Saturday, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Historic Columbia offered free tours of the Woodrow Wilson House, Jonathon Johnson offered to give a Civil Rights tour of Columbia, and Meeghan had arranged for Benedict students to give a tour of their campus along with their neighboring HBCU, Allen University. Links to information about all of these are available on the </span><a href="https://sites.google.com/view/southern-history-of-education/shoes-2020" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;" target="_blank">online schedule</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">To fund the conference we had commitments from various entities at UofSC, including the <a href="https://sc.edu/about/our_leadership/president/index.php" target="_blank">Office of the President</a>, the <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/education/" target="_blank">College of Education</a>, the <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/index.php" target="_blank">College of Arts & Sciences</a>, the <a href="https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/support/friends_groups/uscs.php" target="_blank">South Caroliniana Society</a>, the <a href="https://www.usccihe.org/" target="_blank">Center for Innovation in Higher Education</a>, the <a href="https://www.sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/history/" target="_blank">Department of History</a>, the <a href="https://www.sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/african_american_studies/index.php" target="_blank">African American Studies Program</a>, the <a href="http://civilrights.sc.edu/" target="_blank">Center for Civil Rights History</a>, and, of course, <a href="https://www.benedict.edu/" target="_blank">Benedict College</a>. We are so very grateful for their willingness to support SHOES in Columbia!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One other contribution we made this year was to create a <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/southern-history-of-education/" target="_blank">permanent website</a> for SHOES. As you can see on the "<a href="https://sites.google.com/view/southern-history-of-education/past-conferences" target="_blank">Past Conferences</a>" page, in recent years each host would create their own site. Before that there was a newsletter that was sent first by mail and then via email. This website, simple as it is, is that old newsletter finally finding a permanent place in the modern, digital world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">See you next year!</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Good luck adjusting to this (hopefully temporary) new reality! </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our students need us more than ever in a time like this. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And as you self-quarantine, remember that during an outbreak of the bubonic plague Newton had to </span><a href="https://www.aish.com/ci/sam/Sir-Isaac-Newtons-Self-Quarantine.html" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;" target="_blank">abandon Cambridge</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and did some important work while at his family farm and Shakespeare </span><a href="https://mashable.com/article/shakespeake-coronavirus-king-lear-plague-memes/" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;" target="_blank">stayed out of harm's way</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and wrote King Lear. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The 50th SHOES conference will be held at Georgia State, where it all began, in 2021. (While it started in 1970, it was cancelled one year so this may be its 50th year, but not its 50th conference.) Hopefully we will all be there in person together in Atlanta next year!</span>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0Columbia, SC, USA34.0007104 -81.034814433.5796499 -81.6802614 34.421770900000006 -80.3893674tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-83789808174338280942017-01-19T16:12:00.000-05:002018-05-06T09:29:00.588-04:00Crosseyed and Painless: Living in the Era of Truthiness"Facts don't do what I want them to," laments the protagonist of the Talking Head's song, "Crosseyed and Painless."<br />
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This song comes to mind every time there's more news about fake news or when I hear another bald-faced lie spewed by King-elect Donald. Which is to say it's been popping into my head a lot lately. When I saw an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/fake-news-hillary-clinton-cameron-harris.html?_r=0" target="_blank">article</a> today about how a guy straight up fabricated news stories for his "news" site and proceeded to make thousands of dollars in short order, the song once again came to mind. That we are so <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2016/12/04/d-c-police-respond-to-report-of-a-man-with-a-gun-at-comet-ping-pong-restaurant/" target="_blank">gullible</a>, so <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6m7pWEMPlA" target="_blank">misinformed</a>, is mind-boggling.<br />
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I don't know what to make of it all. I don't know what to do. The world seems so absurd right now that I don't even know what to believe. How do you <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w1N6RTiTpw" target="_blank">find something to change someone's mind</a>? I haven't the faintest idea. The best I can offer for the moment is that at least we have this rap-inspired section of their 1980 song to dance to:<br />
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Facts are simple and facts are straight<br />
Facts are lazy and facts are late<br />
Facts don't do what I want them to<br />
Facts all come with points of view<br />
Facts just twist the truth around<br />
Facts are getting the best of them<br />
Facts are living turned inside out<br />
Facts are nothing on the face of things<br />
Facts don't stain the furniture<br />
Facts go out and slam the door<br />
Facts are written all over your face<br />
Facts continue to change their shape</blockquote>
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I would say the song was prescient or prophetic, but in truth we've had a hard time dealing with the truth for a long time in this country. <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/yellow-journalism" target="_blank">Yellow journalism</a> was a major cause of the Spanish-American War (or as it's known in Cuba, the Spanish-Cuban-American War). Joseph McCarthy had a very loose relationship with the truth in his perverted persecution of those he feared or hated, but happily there were those who would ultimately <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEvEmkMNYHY" target="_blank">stand up</a> to his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1eA5bUzVjA" target="_blank">lies</a>. But is there something different about today's fake news? It almost feels like there's a crassness and cruelty that we haven't seen before.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i_6RHcM-MwA/WIFtiCTMViI/AAAAAAAAAmE/uFpEyu2_9kIMDEfWTlYHZkjsCm2fao7gwCLcB/s1600/15027730_10210198543987472_8063267500659064201_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i_6RHcM-MwA/WIFtiCTMViI/AAAAAAAAAmE/uFpEyu2_9kIMDEfWTlYHZkjsCm2fao7gwCLcB/s320/15027730_10210198543987472_8063267500659064201_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Stephen Colbert (the character) provided us with a wonderful explanation of this phenomenon when he introduced "<a href="http://www.cc.com/video-clips/63ite2/the-colbert-report-the-word---truthiness" target="_blank">Truthiness</a>" to the lexicon in 2005. Some have said we live in a "post-factual" era, but I think the more accurate term is Colbert's "truthiness." Think about it: It's a made-up word created and coined by a made-up character, who, even though was made-up, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/27/colbert-study-conservativ_n_191899.html" target="_blank">some</a> still took as <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/what-colbert-report-taught-us-about-psychology-conservatives/" target="_blank">sincere</a>. Nothing could provide a more perfect description our current state, right? "The Era of Truthiness" it is then.<br />
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And now, with a new era to officially begin tomorrow, another Talking Heads song comes to mind....<br />
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In describing this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_to_Nowhere" target="_blank">song</a>, David Byrne remarked, "I wanted to write a song that presented a resigned, even joyful look at doom." What will tomorrow bring? We can't know, of course, especially in this Era of Truthiness, but at least we can smile and dance as we get there...Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-87267545224441083862017-01-06T11:12:00.002-05:002017-01-06T11:12:13.525-05:00The Palest Ink<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Palest Ink</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remembered my dream w</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">hen I awoke</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remembered the story</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remembered the feeling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I awoke </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remembered my dream</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Who said what to whom</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And where</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And why</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had a dream and I remembered it</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What happened?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What did it mean?</span>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-17165512767211643992015-12-28T10:45:00.000-05:002015-12-28T10:52:20.785-05:00Next Year: Fail Better<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This year, as expected, had its ups and downs. I only posted once last year -- about how I was going to kick ass in 2014 -- and I figured I should at least get one post in for 2015. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This is my one and only resolution for next year...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2jMLLSuGylM/VoFaYqeNpBI/AAAAAAAAAiM/OphZHJTv5VA/s640/blogger-image-177617406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2jMLLSuGylM/VoFaYqeNpBI/AAAAAAAAAiM/OphZHJTv5VA/s640/blogger-image-177617406.jpg"></a></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-33127874966967196942014-01-01T23:24:00.000-05:002014-01-01T23:51:38.653-05:00Making Changes in the New Year: Resolution, Revolution, or Evolution?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Resolution.
Revolution. Evolution. How should we go about changing our lives?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">New
Year's Day seems to be the time to set new resolutions. We resolve to make some
dramatic change. Or, in other words, we think we will bring about some kind of
revolution our life. And, not surprisingly, a month or week later we have
abandoned our ambitious plans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">This
is not a new phenomenon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Benjamin Franklin,
in his autobiography, explained that at one point in his life he conceived, “the
bold and arduous Project of arriving at moral Perfection.” This
task, however, was more than he could handle. “I soon found that I had taken a Task of
more Difficulty than I had imagined.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Instead
Franklin settled on the idea to attack one aspect of his life at a time. He
synthesized various moral teachings into thirteen virtues and then to each attached a short explanation of their precepts. He would chart his
progress on each virtue over the course of a week, focusing primarily on one
virtue until he felt he had perfected his behavior as nearly perfectly as
possible, and then would move onto the next. To accomplish his overall plan, he
carried out a daily routine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c-zCuInIEpE/UsTparlG-kI/AAAAAAAAAds/mdP2OAil5l0/s1600/franklinvirtues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c-zCuInIEpE/UsTparlG-kI/AAAAAAAAAds/mdP2OAil5l0/s320/franklinvirtues.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I
could list many goals I would wish to accomplish under these thirteen
virtues—temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity,
justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility—and I
could add a few other categories of my own. But to what end? I would only find
myself frustrated in a few weeks, if not days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Instead,
I think I'll try out Mr. Franklin's approach: Focus on conquering one goal at a
time. Once accomplished, I will focus on the next. Ben didn't ignore the other
12 traits he wished to develop at the expense of the one he was focused on;
rather, he simply focused his energy on the one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">So,
2014, hello. How are you? Ready for me? I have much I'd like to accomplish in
your 365 days. However, I may only get through one and that'll be just fine.
Better to have finished that one goal off than to have half-assed my way
through a half dozen of them. I can slowly evolve my thinking, my habits, and
my behavior on that one thing rather than hoping to magically and suddenly
revolutionize how I go about my life simply because I've set down some
resolution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">OK,
let's get this year started...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div>
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Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-37643762658579671402013-08-20T12:57:00.001-04:002016-12-10T13:35:03.680-05:00Who Wants to Live Forever?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If a fountain of youth existed, would you bathe in it? That's what <a href="http://drewmagary.com/" target="_blank">Drew Magary</a> prods us to consider in his novel <i>The Postmortal</i>. A "cure" for aging is discovered wherein your genetic code can be altered, essentially freezing you at a certain age. You can still be <i>killed</i>, but you won't <i>age</i>.<br />
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<i>The Postmortal</i> was the book that all <a href="http://www.sc.edu/fyre/aboutus/pastbooks/2013.shtml" target="_blank">incoming first-year students were to read</a> before arriving on campus this weekend. Yesterday morning we heard Drew deliver a wonderful talk about the book to all 5,000 or so freshmen. He talked of owning our regrets, learning from them, and making the most of our life despite (or because of?) the "mistakes" we make along the way. Afterward I gathered with 25 new students to discuss the book.<br />
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What would an ageless life be like? How would it affect your relationships, platonic, familial, and romantic? How would you approach work and leisure? Would it change how you act on your interests or passions?<br />
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As I often do, I turn to the musician-philosophers to help me think through such weight matters. Freddie Mercury and Brian May ask, "Who wants to live forever?"<br />
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And Danny Elfman answers, "No one lives forever!"<br />
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The book is a provocative reminder to live in the present and make the most of each day. The Grim Reaper may chase you, but the fun is in making the most of your life while outrunning him.Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-14244358921924938772013-08-18T22:30:00.000-04:002013-08-20T13:11:11.324-04:00Move-in Day: The Annual Ritual Marking the Start of the School Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Move-in day at college. What a scene. I remember mine well: my mom and dad with me at the University of Utah at good old Austin Hall (may she rest in peace). While my dad helped me bring in the stuff we had just hauled across the country from New Hampshire, my mom scrubbed the hell out of every nook and cranny in my dorm room.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This weekend <a href="http://www.sc.edu/news/newsarticle.php?nid=6359#.UhN4rhYZBjY" target="_blank">students moved into campus housing</a> at USC. As I have in <a href="http://christiankanderson.blogspot.com/2008/08/move-in-day.html?q=move-in" target="_blank">past years</a> I volunteered for a shift as a <a href="http://www.sc.edu/moveincrew/" target="_blank">move-in helper</a>. While I hope I was helpful to those students for whom I carried up a few boxes, I actually get something myself out of this experience. There is a sense of renewal in seeing the excitement of these new students move into the freshmen dorms (oh, I’m sorry, I mean the “first-year student residence halls”). It reminds me of the excitement (and nervousness) I felt all those years ago.<br /><br />This move-in ritual has likely been repeated since students started moving to college. In </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">novel, </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Diary of a</i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Freshman</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (published in 1900) the protagonist, Tommy Wood, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">moves into a boarding</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">room (after his mother insists on them checking on five different options) in Cambridge because he didn’t get a room inside Harvard Yard. He frets over this because, "I had the idea that if you didn't live in one of the buildings owned by the college you wouldn't feel, somehow, as if you 'belonged.'"His first days are filled with </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">getting oriented to college life and to his new town. As I watched students trying to assemble new pieces of furniture to add to their diminutive dorm rooms I thought of Tommy trying to help his neighbor, Duggie, assemble his new bed that had been delivered. "We tried of about half an hour to make the bed stand up. It looked simple enough..." but, well you can imagine the rest. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tommy's mother helps clean his room even and moves his bed away from the window so he won’t catch cold. As soon as she leaves to catch the train home, he moves the bed back so he can see the goings on of his new town.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm sure lots of new students were moving their beds back to where they wanted as soon as they saw mom and dad's tail lights pulling out of the parking lot.</span>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-70891300644049764452013-08-16T16:35:00.000-04:002013-08-17T13:58:04.879-04:00Writing A New Chapter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Book of Life is made up of a series of chapters. Today is Faculty Reporting Day at USC, which means it is the first day of the Fall Semester for faculty. You know, the day we return from our long, leisurely sojourn at our summer cabins on Golden Pond (where's that promised sarcasm font when I need it?).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, today is the start of a new chapter, not just because it marks a new academic year, but because of the significance of this year. The past chapter was full of a lot of changes (my divorce was finalized, for example) and this next one holds its own set of opportunities and challenges, namely, as it is the year I apply for tenure. Of course, you can't start completely <i>tabula rasa</i> with each new chapter because the contents of the previous chapters provide context to the next one, but you can make choices about its contents and tone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Solsbury Hill" is a song Peter Gabriel wrote when he was making a transition from one chapter (lead singer of Genesis) to a new one (a solo career). It is a very meaningful song to me about the transitions we make in life. How perfect is it that this live version of the song folds "Ode to Joy," from my favorite symphony, into the ending? Pretty perfect, methinks, because that's what I hope this next chapter has a lot of: Joy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">"I'll show them what the smile on my face meant..."</span></i> </span></div>
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</span>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-78615969377735554632013-07-21T20:51:00.000-04:002013-07-21T21:04:19.745-04:00The World Needs More Wendy's<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After a few days of camping in the rainy wilds of West Virginia the kids and I were heading home yesterday. We crossed over the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.nps.gov/neri/index.htm" target="_blank">New River Gorge Bridge</a> and into the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">quirky little town</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://visitfayettevillewv.com/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Fayetteville</a>.<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was lunchtime and I asked the kids what they wanted. Predictable responses. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My idea to "find a local place; someplace that we can only enjoy here" was met with some resistance. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(Sometimes democracy is not the way to go.) </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I saw the </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathedral-Cafe/208665849608" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Cathedral Café</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I was pretty sure that was the place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After we seated ourselves, Wendy, the owner, greeted us with a, "How are you?"</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p9YU6LuqFeQ/UewnUBtVjxI/AAAAAAAAAaE/rB7XBEfdDHI/s1600/outside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p9YU6LuqFeQ/UewnUBtVjxI/AAAAAAAAAaE/rB7XBEfdDHI/s200/outside.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I answered honestly: "One of us is great, one of us pretty good, and one of us is a bit grumpy."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She sat down in the open chair at our table, smiled, and said, "Let me see if I can guess which one is which." She looked at Jacob and said that he looked like he was doing pretty good but maybe not "great" since he looked a little tired. She then looked at Lauren and said, "Are you the grumpy one?" She said it in such a way that it made Lauren smile in this bashful way that is so damn cute because you can tell she is trying her hardest <i>not</i> to smile. She added, "I think I might know what will make you not grumpy. We make our own milkshakes here. You want one?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wendy then went on to describe all the flavors they had, including one made of sherbet that tastes like a popsicle. Jacob chimed in and asked if he could get one too. "Of course!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lauren went from Grumpy McGrumperpants to Little Miss Sunshine almost immediately, even <i>before</i> she got her shake. And then they raved about how much they loved the pizza and how tasty it was. (My shrimp quesadilla was amazingly tasty, too.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I then watched Wendy work her café. She knew all the locals and greeted them by name. And she welcomed first-time visitors with the same warmth as she gave her regulars. When I was paying for our lunch I asked her about the big bookshelves. She explained that customers donate books and then if you want to buy one you donate whatever you want to the book donation jar (at least a quarter!) and she donates the book donation proceeds to the Humane Society and other local charities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, why can't we all just be <a href="http://christiankanderson.blogspot.com/2013/07/kindness-and-los-golpes.html" target="_blank">kind</a> to each other like this and brighten each other's day? The world needs more Wendy's.</span><br />
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Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-19531738872273917282013-07-16T19:19:00.000-04:002013-08-06T10:18:57.254-04:00Kindness against los golpes en la vida<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."</span></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This quote is often attributed to Plato, but some argue it was someone else. It doesn't much matter; the sentiment is there.</span><br />
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I have several friends who seem to be struggling right now. OK, I'll count myself among them, too, if I'm going to be honest.</span><br />
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We all pass through these times when no matter how bright the sun shines, we feel like we can't get out of the shadows. </span><br />
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At times like this I think of the Peruvian poet César Vallejo. In his tragic poem, "Espergesia," he laments: "</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Yo </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">nací un día</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">que Dios estuvo enfermo, </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">grave."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">How must it have felt to write that he felt that God was gravely ill the day he was born? I think of his poem, "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVzqd33Cxls" target="_blank">Los heraldos negros</a>" ("<a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/black-messengers-translation-of-los-heraldos-neg/" target="_blank">The Black Messengers</a>") and how he cries out about the blows that life delivers us.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hay golpes en la vida, tan fuertes... ¡Yo no sé!<br />Golpes como del odio de Dios; como si ante ellos,<br />la resaca de todo lo sufrido<br />se empozara en el alma. ¡Yo no sé!</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />Son pocos; pero son. Abren zanjas oscuras<br />en el rostro más fiero y en el lomo más fuerte.<br />Serán tal vez los potros de bárbaros atilas;<br />o los heraldos negros que nos manda la Muerte.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />Son las caídas hondas de los Cristos del alma,<br />de alguna fe adorable que el Destino blasfema.<br />Estos golpes sangrientos son las crepitaciones<br />de algún pan que en la puerta del horno se nos quema.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />Y el hombre. Pobre. ¡Pobre! Vuelve los ojos, como<br />cuando por sobre el hombro nos llama una palmada;<br />vuelve los ojos locos, y todo lo vivido<br />se empoza, como charco de culpa, en la mirada.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />Hay golpes en la vida, tan fuertes. ¡Yo no sé!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;">I don't know why poetry, and especially Spanish poetry, speaks to me at times like this. I hope soon I will feel </span>inspired to turn to Neruda's love poems instead of Vallejo's lamentations. But at least for now I know that someone else felt the same way I do. That I'm not alone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And it reminds me to follow Plato’s admonition to be kind to everyone. We’re all bracing ourselves against the blows of life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><u>Note</u>: I wrote this post on January 23, 2013. I don't remember exactly what caused me to write it, but I do remember vividly the emotions I was feeling. Any time I pull out César Vallejo poetry, it's certainly not a happy day. I find writing therapeutic and I wrote this as a way to help me deal with whatever it was that I was struggling </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">with. For whatever reason I didn't hit the "Publish" button. I did copy it and share it with a few close friends, but otherwise it's been sitting here as a draft. I ran across a copy I printed out the other day and thought about it a bit after re-reading it, and then today I was reminded again about it. So, here it is.</span>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-61729922075517213682013-07-09T16:54:00.001-04:002013-07-09T17:28:37.065-04:00Back in the U.S.S.R.: 25 years ago this week...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Twenty-five years ago this week I returned from the most remarkable trip I had taken in my young life. I had just spent nearly a month in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Yes, the USSR. I was a high school kid from Kaysville, Utah and I had just been to Leningrad, Odessa, Kiev, Sochi, and Moscow (and Helsinki on the way in and Frankfurt on the way out). It was quite a first international trip for a guy who had yet to leave the country (nope, not even Mexico or Canada). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I already loved to travel and had been around western United States and had been to East Coast a couple of times. In fact, as I was traveling to the USSR my family was prepping for our move to New Hampshire. But t</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">his trip solidified the diagnosis that I had a permanent case of the Travel Bug. I immediately wanted to travel again. Although I was in high school I was able to earn college credits through the University of Utah and as such it was my first study abroad experience in addition to being an <a href="http://www.peopletopeople.com/" target="_blank">exchange program</a>. (We had students from the USSR visit us in Utah, including at Davis High School.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While in college I studied abroad for a term in Mexico. And then as a professor I've taken students on three study abroad programs: to Taiwan (2009), the <a href="http://christiankanderson.blogspot.com/2010/03/dominican-dispatches-day-one.html" target="_blank">Dominican Republic</a> (2010), and <a href="http://christiankanderson.blogspot.com/2012/02/dreaming-of-cuba.html?q=cuba" target="_blank">Cuba</a> (2012). In fact, it was the trip to the USSR that inspired me to make the Cuba trip a reality. I'm currently finishing my plans for the 2014 course. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In addition to leading these study abroad experiences I've also been abroad for my own research or to conferences as a professor (my own "study abroad" programs, so to speak): to Canada, Taiwan, Chile, and <a href="http://christiankanderson.blogspot.com/2013/05/hacia-las-alturas-de-machu-picchu.html" target="_blank">Peru</a>. There's practically no place I don't want to visit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What is it about travel that appeals to me so? In a word, <i>curiosity</i>. I'm curious. About language, culture, politics, history, education, economics, well, about everything (or just about everything) and there is really no substitute for "being there." And the best part of "being there" is meeting the people, not just seeing the sights. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mark Twain summed up why that experience of "being there" is so important: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, as I reminisce 25 years later, here are a few snapshots of me in the USSR doing what I most love about going new places -- making new friends.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2ZnnOVivsPo/UdxxEuMyueI/AAAAAAAAAYs/S2XUh9WCcOM/s1600/RockBand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2ZnnOVivsPo/UdxxEuMyueI/AAAAAAAAAYs/S2XUh9WCcOM/s400/RockBand.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Singing Beatles songs with Russian rockers at our hotel after seeing their concert in Leningrad. One of us had just given the lead singer the "Moscow Summit" t-shirt.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W9Bfz0vCeUs/UdxxExUbI9I/AAAAAAAAAYw/m04cpHxv3-Y/s1600/YouthCamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W9Bfz0vCeUs/UdxxExUbI9I/AAAAAAAAAYw/m04cpHxv3-Y/s400/YouthCamp.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After a friendly game of basketball at a Soviet Pioneer Camp.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zow7jyZngjA/Udx2R4Jzp1I/AAAAAAAAAZQ/jmnJ5PwbvKs/s1600/RedArmy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zow7jyZngjA/Udx2R4Jzp1I/AAAAAAAAAZQ/jmnJ5PwbvKs/s400/RedArmy.jpg" width="283" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maybe borrowing a Red Army soldier's hat wasn't the wisest move I've made in my life. At least Doug seems to approve. In other news, Doug and I may have been "detained" by police in Leningrad for suspicion that we had allegedly, or were about to, trade on the Black Market with two friends we had met, Ilia and Dmitri. But that might be a story for another time.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RPTGUFPS0_k/UdxxFVoCWLI/AAAAAAAAAZA/ImGvNa53ADU/s1600/scrapbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RPTGUFPS0_k/UdxxFVoCWLI/AAAAAAAAAZA/ImGvNa53ADU/s400/scrapbook.jpg" width="245" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A page from my photo album. Like my great cartography and Cyrillic skills showing where "Utah" is? And, no, Victoria and I didn't stay in touch.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-66eLoBBMoQs/UdxxE_y4JjI/AAAAAAAAAYo/KrxPWfApQA0/s1600/RedSquare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-66eLoBBMoQs/UdxxE_y4JjI/AAAAAAAAAYo/KrxPWfApQA0/s400/RedSquare.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In front of Lenin's Tomb right after meeting its embalmed occupant.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And just the year before I visited the Soviet Union another, slightly more famous American, visited the USSR.</span><br />
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Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-26443672067950509592013-05-31T13:07:00.000-04:002013-05-31T13:18:47.670-04:00Hacia las alturas de Machu Picchu<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Esta mañana me amanecí temprano y fui de caminata por las calles de Columbia. Hace cinco años hoy, el 31º de mayo de 2008, me desperté aún más temprano y fui caminando por las calles de un lugar un poco más exótico, el pueblo de Aguas Calientes en el Perú, para poder subir al autobús para ascender a las alturas de Machu Picchu.</div>
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Al llegar a la entrada de la antigua ciudad Inca todavía no se había amanecido el sol. El cielo quedaba oscuro y el aire estaba lleno de nieblas. Dirigí la mirada hacia las famosas ruinas pero no se podía ver nada. Todo estaba escondido detrás de las nubladas sombras.</div>
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Entonces busqué el pasaje para la Puerta del Sol, el fin del Camino Inca. Por las tinieblas me fui en esa senda hacia el sol.</div>
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Esa puerta da una vista rara y extraña. Con el sol subiendo por el este, se parten las nieblas y en el lado oriental de la puerta las rocas resplandecen del sol. Pero al lado occidental de la puerta las piedras quedan frías y oscuras. Era como que de la puerta había creado una línea invisible pero verdadera entre la luz y la oscuridad, entre el día y la noche.</div>
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Poco a poco, mientras el sol subía y subía, esa línea se arrastraba por el sendero Inca hasta que el lado oeste también se bañaba con rayos del sol. Me di la vuelta y empecé por el sendero hacia el destino de Machu Picchu. Me había acostumbrado al ardor del sol, pero al doblarme hacia el oeste me di cuenta de repente que el sendero estaba todavía en tinieblas. Con el sol a mi espalda comencé el camino hacia las vistas que yo había venido a experimentar. A cada paso que tomé me seguía el sol y relumbraba mi ruta.</div>
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Se apartaban las nubes poco a poco y al llegar a las ancianas ruinas, ellas todavía se escondían, encubiertas por un velo nuboso. Venía el sol y se partían los celajes. Gradualmente se me revelaba Machu Picchu. Lentamente lo llegaba a conocer. Con cada rayo del sol se iluminaban los misterios de Machu Picchu.</div>
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Pasé todo el día explorando cada rincón de Machu Picchu, hasta que mis pies me ladraron. Iba conociéndolo y al fin del día me pregunté, ¿lo conozco? No. Esto es la jornada: explorar y conocer, poco a poco, lo mágico. Lo hacemos con la ayuda del sol y con los pasos que tomamos de la oscuridad hacia la luz.</div>
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Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-22807756013671913302013-04-05T23:50:00.000-04:002013-04-06T12:46:35.069-04:00Two Thumbs Up<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I've loved the movies as long as I can remember. I was a child in the pre-VCR age. While I'm sure I saw some on TV as a young child, my first memories of seeing a movie was sitting in the dark at the theatre. The first movie I remember clearly was <i>Pete's Dragon</i>. I was about six. I remember plush red seats. I want to say I saw it with my friend Travis, but I may be wrong, since we had moved away from that neighborhood by that time. I do remember getting a Polaroid picture taken of me. There was a blank screen behind me and I was thrilled that when I got the picture back there was the dragon right next to me! I hope that photo still exists in a shoe box in my mom's closet.</span><br />
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When I was in elementary school we'd buy a sheet of movie tickets at the end of the school year. Each week I'd tear off the movie ticket for that week and my friends and I would ride our bikes downtown to the single-screen theatre in Kaysville, Utah. I'd have a couple dollars in my pocket to buy a soda and a popcorn. When I'd stay at my grandma's house in Holladay she'd give me some money to go see a movie at the theatre at the Cottonwood Mall. I'd jump the fence, cross the horse pasture, pass behind the church building, and then cut through the empty lot to Highland Drive and walk the final block to the theatre. For whatever reason I remember always buying a long piece of red licorice at that theatre, that kind that is probably a couple feet long, but felt like it was taller than my dad.</span><br />
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I have other specific movie memories. I remember my dad taking me to see <i>Star Wars</i> at the old <a href="http://utahtheaters.info/TheaterMain.asp?ID=71" target="_blank">Centre Theatre</a> on the corner of State Street and Broadway in Salt Lake. It was a theatre of yesteryear: a single screen for a thousand movie-goers to share an experience. When we got to the theatre I remember asking my dad why they had spotlights shining into the sky. When he explained it was to attract people to come see the movie, I thought (and maybe asked) why would anyone miss seeing <i>Star Wars</i>? We relived this kind of experience more than two decades later when we saw <i>Fellowship of the Rings</i> together at the <a href="http://utahtheaters.info/TheaterMain.asp?ID=1" target="_blank">Villa Theatre</a>, the last of the old-time theatres in Salt Lake.</span><br />
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We saw the <i>Black Stallion</i> as a family at the Olympus Hills theatre when I was nine. I remember it because my mom was with us and she normally didn't like going to movies. I remember one other time that she came to a movie with us and she leaned over to me, took my hand, and said, "One day girls will want to hold your hand when you're at the movie with them." </span><br />
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When it was time to take my first child to his first movie, I couldn't bring myself to take him to the ugly, tired multiplexes of State College, Pennsylvania where we lived at the time. We made the 40-minute drive to the <a href="http://telcott.com/rowlandtheatre.html" target="_blank">Rowland Theatre</a> in Philipsburg to see <i>Finding Nemo</i> in a proper, old-style theatre. Jacob loved it so much he invited his little best friend, Grace, and we saw it again that weekend, this time at the <a href="http://www.drive-ins.com/theater/patsta2" target="_blank">drive-in</a>. A few years later one of Lauren's first movies was <i>Ice Age</i> at <a href="http://www.campustheatre.org/" target="_blank">Campus Theatre</a> during Lewisburg's ice festival. We continue to <a href="http://christiankanderson.blogspot.com/2011/12/santa-conquers-martians.html" target="_blank">enjoy movies together</a>.</span><br />
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I could go on and on about my favorite movies and movie theatres. I've probably more than made my point that I'm a nostalgic person. Sentimental. Perhaps overly so. I have so many of these memories, that seem to just come back to me in a flash.</span><br />
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A flash like when I got an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/movies/roger-ebert-film-critic-dies.html" target="_blank">email alert</a> this afternoon that <a href="http://www.rogerebert.com/" target="_blank">Roger Ebert</a> had died.</span><br />
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Ebert—calling him by his last name seems as familiar as calling him by his first—has been my go-to film critic for as long as I can remember. I remember even as a teenager watching him and Siskel on TV. I read several other reviewers at times—some critics tend toward the pretentiousness and others add extreme long-windedness to their pretentiousness. Ebert had the genius audacity to judge films against others in its same genre; every film didn't have to be <i>The Godfather</i> or <i><a href="http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/14170934-421/ebert-vertigo-deserves-best-film-selection.html" target="_blank">Vertigo</a>.</i></span><br />
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Most local papers have abandoned film criticism and just pipe in reviews from other venues. One exception is <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/moviecricket" target="_blank">Sean Means</a> of the The Salt Lake Tribune who posted a wonderful <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsmoviecricket/56111587-66/roger-movie-ebert-critic.html.csp" target="_blank">remembrance of Ebert</a>. I happen to have a friend here in Columbia who grew up just down the street from Roger in Urbana (look up Steve Sanderson in the index to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Life-Itself-Memoir-Roger-Ebert/dp/B00AK2U6IO/" target="_blank">Ebert's memoir</a>). Over the years he has related to me a few stories of how Roger was always a good guy, no matter the fame he achieved. The anecdotes related by Sean <i>P.</i> Means certainly confirm that. </span><br />
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I'm not one generally starstruck. There are a few famous people I would certainly like to meet, not merely because they are famous, but because they seem from my distant spot to be truly interesting and engaging people. Roger Ebert is one of those people I would have loved to sit down with to talk movies. I would have asked him about movies he might have reconsidered rating higher or lower years later. Movies that he watches over and over. And even if I could have convinced him that a certain family favorite that he panned is actually comedy gold. One of my favorite anecdotes from his memoir is the time he happened to be on the Tonight Show <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbvKKIIlVX8" target="_blank">the same night</a> as Chevy Chase. Johnny Carson asked what was his least favorite movie of the year was. He hesitated, realizing that he was sitting next to one of the stars of the movie he was about to name, and said, <i>The Three Amigos</i>.</span><br />
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(I actually did correspond with him twice. Once I submitted a question to his "<a href="http://www.rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=ANSWERMAN" target="_blank">Answer Man</a>" column for which he thanked me and gave me a reply even though he didn't use the query in his column and once to send him <a href="http://christiankanderson.blogspot.com/2009/02/this-post-is-not-yet-rated.html" target="_blank">my take on the MPAA system</a> given that I knew how absurd he thought the system was. He replied that he thought <i>Taken</i> was actually rated R. Nope.)</span><br />
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So, listening to NPR's <a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/04/05/176339792/roger-ebert-in-review-a-fresh-air-survey" target="_blank">Fresh Air</a> tonight brought these memories back again. At one point Terry Gross asks him to name a favorite film scene and Roger talks about a scene in <i>Citizen Kane</i> and about the role of memory in that film and in our lives (<a href="http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=176339792&m=176343112" target="_blank">forward to 13:40</a>). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">...in one little speech in a popular Hollywood film...you have the mystery of memory and of longing and of the fact that we are all, to some degree, alone and trying to reach out to somebody else.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then you have time....And the more I think about that, if you - the more you think about that speech, the more it's about the human condition. It's about the whole thing.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think this is why I've always been drawn to Roger Ebert. His <a href="http://jezebel.com/5993693/roger-eberts-twenty-best-reviews" target="_blank">wonderful writing</a> is accessible—he is as witty and clever with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Your-Movie-Sucks-Roger-Ebert/dp/0740763660/" target="_blank">reviews of bad movies</a> as he is glowing and effusive toward <a href="http://www.rogerebert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=REVIEWS08" target="_blank">great ones</a>. He is nostalgic and sentimental. He understands that movies, at their heart, are about storytelling. And storytelling is about each of us trying to make sense of our lives and who we are. </span><br />
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The <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2013/04/a_leave_of_presense.html" target="_blank">last words he wrote</a>, just days before he died, were, "So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies."</span><br />
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Right <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2013/04/a_statement_from_chaz_ebert.html" target="_blank">to the end</a> Roger Ebert showed that he <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/05/go_gently_into_that_good_night.html" target="_blank">didn't fear death</a>. He celebrated life. And celebrated it well. A two thumbs up life, that's for certain.</span><br />
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Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-20904991401311344842012-10-11T13:06:00.001-04:002012-10-11T13:10:52.473-04:00Picture of an AllyAs I walked across campus today I noticed a large multicolored tent with a door in front of the Russell House, the student union. I then saw someone come through the door, or I should say, <i>out</i> of the door. He was carrying a large sign that said, "Gay!" What a wonderful <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bglsa" target="_blank">way</a> to celebrate <a href="http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/national-coming-out-day" target="_blank">National Coming Out Day</a>.<br />
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When I got a bit closer to the event a young student approached me and said, "Would you like to come out as an ally?"<br />
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"You bet!"<br />
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I think he was a bit surprised by my quick reply. I wasn't. I know where I stand; I wrote <a href="http://christiankanderson.blogspot.com/2011/10/people-are-people-still.html" target="_blank">last year</a> about being an <a href="http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/straight-guide-to-lgbt-americans" target="_blank">ally</a> (and the <a href="http://christiankanderson.blogspot.com/2010/10/people-are-people.html" target="_blank">year before</a> too). A student from my program was at the event and snapped a picture of me as I came out in support of equal rights.<br />
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Happy National Coming Out Day!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U9UdcKEthZg/UHb5_fBy78I/AAAAAAAAAUo/NnZ3x70_FoU/s1600/NCOD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U9UdcKEthZg/UHb5_fBy78I/AAAAAAAAAUo/NnZ3x70_FoU/s640/NCOD.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Lizzie Dement</td></tr>
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<br />Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-35103968392937274412012-09-04T08:40:00.000-04:002012-09-04T08:52:12.083-04:00Hey Barack, Long time, No seeDear President Obama,<br />
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Long time, no see. The door is always open here in the Palmetto State and we've always got a fresh pitcher of sweet tea ready. But you don't come around no more. In fact, you haven't been here since January 26, 2008 when you won South Carolina's primary.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy to see Obama inaugurated?<br />
(Or to have a snow day?)</td></tr>
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Remember me? OK, probably not, but a week before that primary I saw you at the Columbia Convention Center on the eve of Martin Luther King Day. I hoisted my three-year old daughter onto my shoulders so she could see you. My six-year old son stood on his tippy-toes so he could catch a glimpse. Every time they heard your name on the radio or TV for months after that they would exclaim, "Hey, Daddy, they're talking about Barack Obama!" A year later, on your Inauguration Day we happened to have a <a href="http://christiankanderson.blogspot.com/2009/01/snow-falling-on-palms.html" target="_blank">rare snow storm</a> here and so I got to stay home with the kids to watch the events of the day. Jacob estimated there must be "like 7,000 people there or something!"</div>
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So this week you'll be in Charlotte, North Carolina at the <a href="http://www.demconvention.com/" target="_blank">Democratic National Convention</a>. Do you know how close that is to South Carolina? Pretty darn close. Like, as in, we have an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carowinds" target="_blank">amusement park</a> that is in both Charlotte, North Carolina <i>and</i> in Fort Mill, South Carolina. </div>
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So, while you're in the neighborhood, stop by. We'd love to see you here. Some think that traditionally red states like South Carolina are a "<a href="http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=1992912064227409&ShowArticle_ID=11012808121551471" target="_blank">lost cause</a>," but others, even <a href="http://www.timesexaminer.com/bob-dill/1095-can-obama-win-south-carolina" target="_blank">Republicans</a> (including <a href="http://palmettopublicrecord.org/2012/05/01/karl-rove-thinks-obama-could-win-south-carolina/" target="_blank">Karl Rove</a>), think that you could win here. Do you think you could? Is there even a hint of a 50-state strategy this time around?</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xwb83MZCVS4/UETR99OPh4I/AAAAAAAAAUE/BIwKquADVFE/s1600/lunchcounter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xwb83MZCVS4/UETR99OPh4I/AAAAAAAAAUE/BIwKquADVFE/s320/lunchcounter.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Friendship Nine Lunch Counter</td></tr>
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Get this fun fact: More than 385,000 registered black voters<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">—</span>and more than 168,000 unregistered voters for a grand total or <i>more than a half million black voters</i><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">—</span>didn't show up to the polls in the 2010 election. In 2008 you lost South Carolina by 172,447 votes in the general election and it is estimated that nearly <a href="http://www.scpronet.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/MVP-Tool-Kit-.pdf" target="_blank">400,000 black citizens did not vote</a>.</div>
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And get this other fun fact: Mitt Romney <a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-collections/418556/rnc-highlights/418522" target="_blank">enjoys a 0% approval rating</a> among black voters.</div>
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Just sayin'.</div>
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Some think that black voters in South Carolina are essentially <a href="http://www.scblacknews.com/component/content/article/1/1532-missing-black-voters-forfeit-elections" target="_blank">forfeiting races</a> by not showing up. And you may have heard we've got a little <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/08/in-south-carolina-shockingly-candid-talk-about-voter-discrimination/261760/" target="_blank">Voter ID law debacle</a> going on right now, too. Good times.</div>
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So, if you stop by, I've got a perfect place for you to stop in for a burger and some sweet tea: The lunch counter where the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_Nine" target="_blank">Friendship Nine</a> did their sit-in <a href="http://www.friendshipcollege.org/jailnobail.html" target="_blank">protest</a> in Rock Hill in 1961, a crucial event in the Civil Rights Movement here in South Carolina.<br />
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I was in Rock Hill several weeks ago and <a href="http://visityorkcounty.com/partner/92686/3123/friendship-nine-lunch-counter-at-old-town-bistro/" target="_blank">ate there</a>. The food is delicious. And it's just a hop over the border from Charlotte. You could zip down, have a burger, a photo-op (maybe even with some of the Friendship Nine; I met a few of them at a premier of the documentary about them, "<a href="http://www.scetv.org/index.php/carolina_stories/show/jail_no_bail/" target="_blank">Jail, No Bail</a>"), and be back to Charlotte in no time. </div>
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Could South Carolina get an hour or two of your time while you're next door?</div>
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Just some food for thought. </div>
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Sincerely, </div>
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The Palmetto State</div>
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Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-37751013329438261872012-06-04T11:56:00.004-04:002012-06-04T12:05:43.466-04:00Vacation...all I ever wanted...I saw this little tidbit about vacations last week on <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/sunday-morning/" target="_blank">Sunday Morning</a>:<br />
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<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" background="#333333" flashvars="si=254&&contentValue=50125384&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7409896n&tag=mncol;lst;9" height="279" salign="lt" scale="noscale" src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425"></embed><br />
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Apparently a vacation ain't great because you're <i>doing it</i>, but because you're <i>anticipating doing it</i>.<br />
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Well, this week is my week for a vacation with the kids. I can tell they had fun thinking anticipating it. They can give a day-by-day rundown of activities: the few days of "staycation" -- fun things here in the Columbia area (the <a href="http://www.riverbanks.org/" target="_blank">zoo</a>, a <a href="http://www.blowfishbaseball.com/" target="_blank">Blowfish</a> baseball game, the water park, and maybe even a return to <a href="http://carowinds.com/" target="_blank">Carowinds</a>) -- and a few days away at a <a href="http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/" target="_blank">cabin</a> with a day trip to Folly Beach. I think this "vacation anticipation effect" for me was more a matter of helping me focus to get a few crucial tasks done beforehand.<br />
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So, even though the <i>anticipation</i> of a vacation apparently brings more joy than the <i>actual</i> vacation, I'll still try to enjoy the week. ;-)<br />
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Maybe those social scientists from the 1980s knew what they were talking about...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wxC8KatxJxo" width="420"></iframe>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-23891495700636474292012-05-13T23:01:00.004-04:002017-10-16T21:00:53.244-04:00Footnote<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cUvPkAaWpRI/T7BziCCBSUI/AAAAAAAAATk/pYF3PPSdvwo/s1600/footnote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cUvPkAaWpRI/T7BziCCBSUI/AAAAAAAAATk/pYF3PPSdvwo/s320/footnote.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">How do you dramatize the life of a professor? And why would you want to? Don’t they just write, teach, and grade papers? How do you make that interesting? Most films that deal with academic life focus primarily on students, and with good reason: they tend to lead more interesting lives. They party, they do sports, they get in trouble, they have crazy relationships and friendships. Animal House is perhaps the most famous embodiment of the college movie.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But professors? What could be interesting about their lives? <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185014/" target="_blank">Wonder Boys</a> is a wonderful exception to the expectation that a movie about professors would be boring (and it lives up to the great book it is based on). Certain scenes in other movies pop out, one of my favorites being Dustin Hoffman’s role as a coffee-obsessed professor in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420223/" target="_blank">Stranger Than Fiction</a>. The Coen Brothers produced an odd, but beautiful, film about a Jewish professor in their retelling of the story of Job in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1019452/" target="_blank">A Serious Man</a>. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0857191/" target="_blank">The Visitor</a> is an equally sedate, but moving, story of a professor finding his way in the world. There are other examples, but you get the idea.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">With a title like “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1445520/" target="_blank">Footnote</a>” it might sound like an <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Footnote-A-Curious-History/dp/0674307607/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337005462&sr=1-1" target="_blank">academic treatise</a>, not a film rife with conflict and dramatic tension. The film takes place at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. There are two protagonists, both professors, both by the name Shkolnik. A mistake is made by the Ministry of Education when they notify the wrong Professor Shkolnik about winning the Israel Prize for Talmudic Studies. This mistake reveals a host of problems and family dynamics. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The film causes you to consider one set of ethical questions after another. What is the right decision when faced with a true dilemma (where there is no perfect solution)? Given its setting—not just that it is about Biblical scholars, but is set in Israel—one can see the biblical overtones. Is this movie about the fifth commandment, that one should honor his mother and father? Is it a twist on the story of Jacob and Esau? </span><br />
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There are lots of other themes to consider. What are the duties of a father to his son and a son to his father? What are our ethical duties to our rivals? Are any secrets worth keeping? The movie is about the very language we use day in and day out. What does this language mean? How do we use it? What is the role of memory? And how does language—and the way we archive our stories—affect our memories?<br />
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There are subtle critiques of academic life. <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Why do we do research? Teach? What value do these activities add to society? To the lives of the academics? In some of the film's more humorous moments, it pokes fun at academics (and we certainly know that academics are highly pokeable). </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">You may have noticed that I haven’t revealed much of the plot. True. That’s because I want you to come see it with me and then discuss it at a coffee shop afterwards. One of my favorite things to do is to watch a film like this and then debate everything about it</span>—<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">meanings, techniques, characters. </span>How often is a movie like this—about professors that takes place in an international setting and is replete with ethical quandaries to chew on—playing <a href="http://www.nickelodeon.org/" target="_blank">across the street</a> from your office, especially for <a href="https://christiankanderson.weebly.com/higher-education-in-popular-culture.html" target="_blank">a guy like me who loves this kind of film</a>?</div>
Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-34681970768644730622012-02-29T14:21:00.003-05:002012-02-29T14:22:28.364-05:00Dreaming of Cuba<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7FB6Aoi6pRI/T056elwtXRI/AAAAAAAAATU/B3fu2StdFfI/s1600/Cuba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7FB6Aoi6pRI/T056elwtXRI/AAAAAAAAATU/B3fu2StdFfI/s200/Cuba.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I'm headed to Cuba tomorrow. Cuba. The country that has been under a U.S. embargo since the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. It sits 90 miles from the United States and yet is a world away.<br />
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I'm taking a <a href="http://web.me.com/christiankanderson/Academic/HESA_Study_Abroad_2012.html" target="_blank">group of students</a> to see just how different it really is. The main focus will be to learn about higher education in Cuba, but we'll naturally learn about its history, culture, politics, music, art, food, and whatever else we can. We've been reading Julia Sweig's book on Cuba as a primer. I also have a stack of other books that I've collected and tried to read as much as possible.<br />
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Here Sweig talks about her book with South Carolina's favorite son, Stephen Colbert, and explains the importance of U.S.-Cuban relations and what the future between these two nations should look like.<br />
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<tr style="background-color: #e5e5e5;" valign="middle"><td style="padding: 2px 1px 0px 5px;"><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Colbert Report</a></td><td style="font-weight: bold; padding: 2px 5px 0px 5px; text-align: right;">Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 14px;" valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="padding: 2px 1px 0px 5px;"><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/227483/may-12-2009/cuba-us-trade-relations---julia-sweig" style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Cuba/US Trade Relations - Julia Sweig</a></td></tr>
<tr style="background-color: #353535; height: 14px;" valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 5px 0px 5px; text-align: right; width: 512px;"><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/" style="color: #96deff; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.colbertnation.com</a></td></tr>
<tr valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="padding: 0px;"><embed allowfullscreen="true" allownetworking="all" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#000000" flashvars="autoPlay=false" height="288" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:227483" style="display: block;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="512" wmode="window"></embed></td></tr>
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<tr valign="middle"><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/" style="color: #333333; font: 10px arial; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Colbert Report Full Episodes</a></td><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a href="http://www.indecisionforever.com/" style="color: #333333; font: 10px arial; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Political Humor & Satire Blog</a></td><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/video" style="color: #333333; font: 10px arial; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Video Archive</a></td></tr>
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Reading and learning as much as possible about Cuba is good and all, of course.<br />
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But, there's really no substitute for <i>being there</i>.<br />
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I've learned this truism in my other travels. My first trip out of the country was to another communist country, the U.S.S.R. in 1988 as a high school student from Utah. I've pulled out my journal from that trip and I'll be curious to see what comparisons there might be between the two experiences.<br />
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This is a unique time to go to Cuba. Who knows what's around the corner for this country. The Obama loosened regulations for academic travel last year, which is what made this trip possible. However, this could change back. The Castro regime can't last forever, right? What happens after Fidel and Raúl are gone? More of the same? Or will it open up?<br />
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So, we are taking advantage of this window of opportunity. If the restrictions are put back in place, we wouldn't be able to return. And if Cuba opens up and a McDonald's pops up on every corner, then we couldn't return to this Cuba either. I can go back to Russia, but I could never go back to the Soviet Union. </div>
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Like my Soviet trip I plan to keep a journal and I had hoped to blog it here so others could follow along. However, I've learned that Internet access is expensive and slow so I won't be in touch for about 10 days, but I'll certainly upload some thoughts (and lots of pictures) when I get back.</div>
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Hasta pronto...Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-87925069856992390512012-02-12T11:29:00.004-05:002012-02-12T12:28:43.295-05:00Filling Your Life with New Tunes...I get stuck in ruts. Musical ruts. I listen to same stuff over and over. It's comfortable. I know what's coming, what's next. <div><br /></div><div>Sometimes this serves a purpose. For example, when I was writing my dissertation I had certain playlists on my iPod that I would use as background inspiration. My favorite was the complete Led Zeppelin collection. What better way to pump yourself up than with "Black Dog," "The Ocean," and the "D'yer Mak'er"? Around the time "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO1Bh7rZrog">Kashmir</a>" came on (my favorite Zeppelin song ever) I knew I had been cranking for a while. </div><div><br /></div><div>Other favorite playlists included Talking Heads, Dave Matthews Band, and U2, and of course the Beatles. Perhaps I hoped listening to all these great lyricists would rub off on me.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, treading the trodden trails of your old favorites is wonderful and all, but sometimes you need to break out and try some new music. A couple weeks ago I attended the <a href="http://www.uucoffeehouse.org/">UU Coffeehouse</a> concert, not out of interest in the band (which I had never heard of), but as something to do on a Saturday night with the kids. Much to our delight, <a href="http://www.storyhill.com/">Storyhill</a>, was, well, a delight. (My kids especially loved noting that one of the singers looks just like the dad of one of their friends.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Then on another weekend I made another wonderful new discovery thanks to the UU Coffeehouse series, this one held at the <a href="http://www.columbiamuseum.org/artsanddraughts/february">Columbia Museum of Art</a>: <a href="http://www.andyfriedman.net/">Andy Friedman</a>. He's been on a continuous loop in my car for the past week. Oops, there's that rut again, but I can't get enough of his song, "Roll On, John Herald":</div><div><br /></div><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oKYQhHpbyLI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> </div><div><br /></div><div>Same with "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGs6i8DfyTc">Idaho</a>" and "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zT0Bu_YUDM">Going Home</a>." And the lyrics of "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_viGM8CJAzM">Down by the Willow</a>" are pure poetry. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then this morning a friend posted on Facebook a song I'd never heard of by an artist I'd never heard of accompanied by another (apparently famous) artist I'd also never heard of, commenting that she could listen to the song on repeat for hours. I have to admit, I agree.</div><div><br /></div><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8UVNT4wvIGY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>It's always good to discover new music. It's always good to get out of those ruts.</div><div><br /></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-6874526298962848142012-01-31T14:28:00.007-05:002012-02-01T07:26:35.595-05:00Reboot<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D3EuS3VQZbY/Tyku3GGNe8I/AAAAAAAAAS8/QH1LbjgXIIk/s1600/ctrl-Z.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 195px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D3EuS3VQZbY/Tyku3GGNe8I/AAAAAAAAAS8/QH1LbjgXIIk/s200/ctrl-Z.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704141927105788866" /></a>Life needs a Control+Z option. But it doesn't exist. So I'll just apologize instead. <div><br /></div><div>Sorry.</div><div><br /></div><div>Life has been complicated lately. Very. </div><div><br /></div><div>I can't hit Control+Z so I'll just hit reboot instead. </div><div><br /></div><div>Onward.</div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-7150771184626885532012-01-25T08:43:00.005-05:002012-01-25T09:13:05.973-05:00Thank you!<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JooPokFLoUo/TyAJ3L8-H5I/AAAAAAAAASU/zNVhHbA_Yl8/s1600/cast.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JooPokFLoUo/TyAJ3L8-H5I/AAAAAAAAASU/zNVhHbA_Yl8/s200/cast.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701567971957022610" /></a>Having a foot in cast is a real pain in the, er, foot. And when it's your right foot? You know the one you need to press on the accelerator and brake? Well, then it really stinks.<div><br /></div><div>Luckily, I have me some wonderful friends who carted me around when I couldn't drive here or there. So, this is just a little <b>THANK YOU</b> shout-out to those who helped me out over the past six weeks. I've tried to thank each individually, but thought I'd throw out a general <b>GRACIAS</b> as well. Now that I am semi-free (foot is in a boot, but I can take it off to drive) I hope I can return the many favors I received.</div><div><br /></div><div>And, as a thank-you treat, here's a little taste from one of my favorite <a href="http://www.jimgaffigan.com/">comedians</a>. Maybe I should have everyone over for a Bacon Festival as a thank-you. ;-)</div><div><br /></div><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CaK9bjLy3v4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657829977700979656.post-60808780268302971182012-01-03T14:20:00.007-05:002012-01-03T15:12:28.596-05:00Changing Your Mind vs. Flip-FloppingThis past Sunday morning on, er, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/2003-3445_162-0.html">Sunday Morning</a>, commentator <a href="http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=93">Luke Burbank</a> defended Mitt Romney's flip-floppiness. He said that, Hey, it's cool; we all change our minds. You can see his Mitt apologetics here:<div><br /><embed src="http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf" scale="noscale" salign="lt" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" background="#333333" width="425" height="279" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="si=254&&contentValue=50117357&shareUrl=http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7393480n"></embed><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lRcBqA4DrcQ/TwNgrdru_xI/AAAAAAAAASA/tpk6uf5ZPfw/s1600/mt1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lRcBqA4DrcQ/TwNgrdru_xI/AAAAAAAAASA/tpk6uf5ZPfw/s200/mt1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693500653745143570" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 155px; " /></a><div>Yeah, true enough. We all change our minds about stuff. And what Luke gets absolutely right is that changing our mind is a good thing. I'm sure the first patient who got a house call from a doctor who said, "Hey, I've changed my mind about bleeding you with leeches" was pretty stoked. We can come up with a gazillion and half other such examples. Progress is about changing our minds based on the evidence.</div><div><br /></div><div>The problem is that Mitt doesn't change his mind based on the evidence. He flip flops based on political expediency. He doesn't say, "Well, I've evaluated the evidence and I've changed my position on X because of the evidence." He looks at the political winds and sets his sail accordingly. He panders. </div><div><br /></div><div>And he's either completely unaware that he does this or willfully ignorant of it. Did you see his interview with Faux News, the people who practically work for the GOP, where he denied over and over changing his stance on key issues? It was one of the most uncomfortable interviews I've ever seen. Let's let Jon Stewart break it down for us:</div><div><br /><div style="background-color:#000000;width:520px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:video:thedailyshow.com:403449" width="512" height="288" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" base="." flashvars=""></embed><p style="text-align:left;background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:4px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><b><a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-december-1-2011/indecision-2012---mittstorm">The Daily Show with Jon Stewart</a></b><br />Get More: <a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/">Daily Show Full Episodes</a>,<a href="http://www.indecisionforever.com/">Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>,<a href="http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow">The Daily Show on Facebook</a></p></div></div><br /></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0gMTSnvThmM/TwNe1AFo1PI/AAAAAAAAARo/yOx7b5Rv0co/s1600/Flip-Flop-Mitt.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0gMTSnvThmM/TwNe1AFo1PI/AAAAAAAAARo/yOx7b5Rv0co/s320/Flip-Flop-Mitt.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5693498618576164082" style="float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 222px; " /></a><div>There's a big difference between changing your mind based on evidence and pandering. That's why Mitt is a flip flopper. He wants you to stop him when you like what he's saying and will thus vote for him instead of him evaluating the evidence and arguments about a particular issue and making (and even changing) his mind on said issue.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, Mitt, change your mind all you want. But at least own it. At least acknowledge why you're changing it.</div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14053629811835658761noreply@blogger.com0